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Committee hears letter urging pre-recording owner contact; register of deeds says statute, workflow limit action
Summary
A letter read during the March 18 meeting asked the register of deeds to contact owners before recording property transfers to prevent fraud. Committee staff responded that no statute requires such pre-contact, that Wisconsin is a race-notice state, and that recording offices lack authority to reject properly submitted documents.
A committee member read a letter to the editor urging the register of deeds to contact owners of record before registering property transfers as a way to reduce property-fraud risk. The letter was read during the March 18 meeting of the Dunn County Planning, Resource and Development Committee.
Committee member Monica read the two-sentence letter, which recommended the register of deeds contact property owners prior to recording transfers to ensure legitimacy. "What needs to happen to mitigate property fraud is for the register of deeds to contact the owner of record prior to registering the property transfer to make sure that the transfer is legitimate," Monica read.
Heather, speaking for county staff, said there is no law requiring that practice and that the register-of-deeds office typically only receives documents after closings are completed. "I don't know that that would really slow down the recording process," Heather said, adding that Wisconsin operates under a race-notice recording regime and that offices lack explicit statutory authority to hold or reject records solely based on a caller's claim. She suggested that earlier steps—such as identification requirements at closing or in purchase agreements—would be more effective than holding records at the register of deeds.
Heather noted the recently-updated Wisconsin statute 59.43 was the subject of recent testimony and that changes were moving through the legislative process; she cautioned that statutory limits shape what recording offices can do. The committee did not direct a policy change at the March 18 meeting.
